Wheel



Oct. 30, 1934.

MVW. FEINBERG ET AL WHEEL 11, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Feb.

l'lllllllll "29 L. sti z qq ,Ziiuewiar iii. ULFiirbe itorirgy Oct. 30, 1934. w FEINBERG AL Re. 19,353

WHEEL Original Filed Feb. 11 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Reissued Oct. 30, 1934 WHEEL Marcus W. Feinberg, Chelsea,

and Lester s'. Feinberg, Brighton, Mass.-

Original No. 1,946,787,

Serial No. 656,300, Feb

dated .February 13, 1934, ruary 11,1933. Application for reissue April 27', 1934, Serial No.

This invention relates to expansible wheels or the like for engaging and holding annular members such as the rims or tires of vehicle Wheels. The removing and remounting of such members I on wheels or like holding devices in present use require the expenditure of a considerable amount of time and labor and are, therefore, uneconomical in practice. The primary object of our invention is to produce a new and improved wheel for removably supporting annular members and embodies means for supporting the members more uniformly and permitting removal and change-thereof with greater efliciency and case than has been heretofore possible.

Inone of its applications, our invention relates to vehicle wheels and we have herein more particularly described this application of the inven-- tion by way of example. Such a wheel comprising our invention may embody a hub, radiallymovable spokes carried thereby and means for simultaneously and uniformly moving the spokes outwardly-to engage'and hold the rim or tire, or inwardly to release the rim .or tire and permit changing thereof. In one form of the invention,

the tire is mounted on a rim and the tire and rim are applied to the wheel as a another form the rim is constructed in sections, which sections are carried by the spokes of the wheel and the tire alone is applied directly to the wheel without being previously mounted on a rim; In either case, the spokes are carried by the hub, which also embodiesmeans for simultaneously adjusting the spokes radially by a relatively simple and quick operation.

The preferred construction of our improved wheel embodies an inner disk-like hub member carrying a plurality of spoke-forming plungers radially slidable therein and an outer hub member having connected therewith a plurality of cam or spirally-extending surfaces cooperating with the plungers to force them outwardly into position for holding the tire or other annular member, merely by rotating the outer member relative to the "inner member, it being understood that the tire may be removed by rotating the outer member in the opposite direction. In one form of the invention, the plungers carry shoes on their outer ends for engaging and supporting the rim or other annular member. A look or latch 5 may also be provided for preventing relative rotation of the members when they are in the rim-holding position. Thus, to remove a tire and rim' from the wheel, it is only necessary to release the latch and rotate the outer hub membar, thus moving the rim-holding shoes inwardly.

10 Claims. (or. 301-122 unit, and in l A substitute tire and rim may-then be placed over the shoes and clamped into place'merely byrotating-the outer hub member in the opposite. direction. In-Janother form-of the invention,-tlie. rim" is 6.0.; constructed in. sections, which sections are re spectively carried by the radially-movable andspoke-forming plungers. When theplungers arein' their inward position, the tire may be conveniently placed thereover and then, merely by 65. rotating the outer: hub member, the rim sectionsare brought firmly into supporting contact with. the tire. The tire may likewise be removed mere-- ly by rotating the outer hub member in the. opposite direction. 70.

It will thus be seen that we have produced'an improved expansible wheel adapted to receive. and hold annular members of varying diameters and which entirely eliminates the tedious operations of removing clamps and the like when-itis 75. required to remove and change the annular memher. It will furthermore be noted that our in-' vention is relatively simple, inexpensiveand embodies few parts, which may be constructed and assembled with economy of cost and time.

The above and other featuresof the'invention. will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of our invention as embodied in an automobile wheel, selected forpurposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional View through an automobile wheel embodying our'invention, taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

' Fig.2 is a longitudinal section thereof takenon line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective viewoi' a spoke-forming plungerf Fig. '5 is an elevation of a wheel embodyinga modified form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is like Fig. 5 but shows the parts in the tire-holding position;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary View show- 1 ing a detail the-reof;

Fig. 8 shows the parts of Fig. 7 in another position;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view of a modified form of our invention; and

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken on line 11-11 of- Fig. 10..

Referring first to Figs..1-4 of the drawings, the 110 detail section taken on wheel mounted on the axle 10 comprises an inner disk-like hub member 12 and an outer disk-like hub member 14 held in face to face contact or relation on the axle*by means including a nut 16. The two members 12 and 14 have annular hub bearing surfaces cooperating respectively with the two anti-friction bearings on the axle. The member 12 is formed with a plurality of radially-extending channels 18, within each of which is slidably mounted a spoke-forming plunger 20. Three such channels and plungers are illustrated in the drawings for the sake of simplicity, it being understood that any desired number may be employed. The inner face-of the outer member 14 is spirally grooved at 22, three separate spirals being indicated, and laterallyprojecting lugs 24 on the Pl gers project outwardly of the channels 18 through slots in the member 12 to engage within the grooves 22. It

will be obvious that rotation of the member 14 in one direction relative to the member 12 will move the plungers outwardly and rotation thereof in the opposite direction willmove the plungers inwardly.

A tire 26 is illustrated as mounted on .a metallic rim 28, which rim is engaged by shoes 30 carried on' the outer ends of the plungers 20, the shoes conforming in shape to the rim. Lugs 32 on the rim, at opposite sides of the shoes, prevent rotation of the rim relative to the wheel- A hub cap 34 is mounted on the member 14 over the'nut 16 and holes 36 therethrough accommodate a crank handle 38. When the shoes are in the rimholding position illustrated, the members 12 and 14 may be prevented from relative rotation by any convenient means, such as a latch pin 40 carried by the member 12 and engaging within one of a series of holes 42 in themember 14. A brake drum 44 may be provided on the inner surface of the member 12. 1

The tire and rim are illustrated in Figs. land 2 as tightly secured onto the wheel. When it is desired to remove them from the wheel,- the threaded bushing 46 is rotated sufficiently to withdraw the pin 40 from the hole 42 and the member 14 is then rotated, by-means of thehandle'38, in a direction to move the plungers 20 inwardly, the tire engaging sufficiently with. the

ground to prevent-rotation of the member 12.

This operation withdraws the shoes 30 and thus entirely frees the rim, which, with the tire, may be lifted therefrom. A substitute rim; and tire canflthembe placed-on the wheel and .theshoes tightened thereonto merely by rotating the member.:.14 in theopposite direction. Thus therim and tire can be removed and replaced; merely by. operating a latch androtating a single element.

-. Another important feature of the invention resides in the fact that our improved wheel-isadapted to receive rims varyingconsiderably in size, thus providing one standard wheel for substantially all sizes of rims and tires. it will be understood that, as illustrated. in Figs. 1 and 2, the shoes 30 have a considerable range of radial movement and the latch means,.40.-.-.42 may be constructed and located to retain the shoes inany position of adjustment.

.InFigs. 5-9 wehave our invention in which the rim is constructed in sections, which sections are carried by the spokeforming elements of the wheel. This 'wheel comprises a hub portion, including aninner disk-like hub member, a cooperating outer hub member 14", hub cap 34'.and spoke elements20' and 20",

all substantially as illustrated'in Figs. 1 and 2.

illustrated the rorm'Tdf As illustrated, each of the two elements 20 carries a substantially semi-circular rim section 48 and each of the two elements 20 carries a. shorter rim section 50 cooperating with the ends of the sections 48 and adapted to bridge the gap therebetween. The adjacent ends 49 of the sections 48 are preferably beveled in. an'inwardlydiverging direction, as illustrated, and each section 50 has an intermediate portion 52 adapted. to engage therebetween and end portions 54 deflected radially inward and adapted to engage over and secure the ends 49. The sections 50 are also provided with .edge flange portions 56 and 5'7 for engaging against and supporting the beads of thetire and the edges of the rim.

When the spoke elements and the rim sections carried thereby are extended outwardly into tight engagement with the tire, the sections 48 are held in full contact with the tire and the sections 50 are wedged between the ends of the sections 48, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and '7, whereby to form a complete rim engaging and fully supporting the tire and its beads entirely therearound. When the tire is to be changed, the spoke elements and their'rim sections are drawn inwardly to the position shown in Fig. 5 merely by rotating the member 14', all as above described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2, it being understood that the tire is in deflated condition. The tire may now be freely removed from the wheel and another substituted therefor. Then, merely by rotating the member 14 inthe opposite direction, the rim sections may be brought to the full tire supporting position of Figs.- 6 and '7.

- It should be noted that the beveled construction of the ends 49 and the cooperating shape of the sections 50 permit the sections 50 to be wedged into position in a manner not only bridging the gap between such ends but also acting to spread the ends-into firm contact with the tire and hold the ends as securely in alignment as though the rim were of one piece. It will also beunderstood that this beveled construction prevents any pinching of the sections 50 which would prevent their free withdrawal. The use of this improved wheel eliminates the necessity of independent rims for, the tires and eliminates the difiicult task of removing the tires from and-replacing them on the rims, as required by the-wheels heretofore knowrn It will, of, course, be understood that the rim sections may be relatively proportioned as desired, the semi-circular. construction of the sections 48 being herein illustrated as one preferred form thereof.

In Figs. 10 and 11, we have shown a-modified construction of our improved wheel, comprisin an inner disk-like hub member 60 having a sleeve portion 62 on which is mounted a cooperating outer hub member 64. The member (SO-is recessed to receive portions 66 and 68 of the member 62' thereinto and is provided with a plurality of radially-extending channels for receiving spoke elements '70. The inner face of the portion 68 may contact with and help tosupport the elements '70. The'portion 66'is located in radial alignment with the spoke elements-'70 and its periphery is formed into a plurality of inclined lands or cam surfaces '72, against which engage the inner ends of the spoke elementsythe number of such surfaces '72 corresponding to the number of elements '70'. It will be'obvious that rotation of the member 64 in the direction of the arrow relative to the member 60 will-cause radial outward movement'of the elements and bring theshoes or rim sections 74 thereon into contact with or tire." Any convenient means may-be "nsed toc'ause inward movement of the" elements rem n the member 64-is rotatedin the releasing direction; if-"suchmeans is" found" necessary or desirable; Itwill, of courseg-be' understood "that we have throughout the specification and claims used-the terms' spiral cam surfaces" and inclined lands synonymously, with the intentiorl=-that any eccentric surface which will cause movement ofthe spoke elements radially is within-thescop'e ofour invention.

Having' th'us describedour-invention;what we claim-as new'arid desire to seOurebyLetters n p. eipansiblje wheel-for engagin'g and holdmg an "annularmemb'er; -comprising an inner memberhaving a centrally disposed hubportion, said-member extending radjally'outward'from the 'liuh'portionand having a plurality or radially extending f'cliannelstherein and extending -thr'ough'-aflange-integral with-and projecting-in an outboard direction fromthep-eripheraal pertien'ofthe-member, a'plurality of spoke-forming plungers respectively'in said channels and'extending'outwardly' throughthe flange, an outer member- 'in faceto face contaetwiththe inner' reen er and having'a centrally disposed hub-pore ward-amt formingacover'for the inner member whereby the inembershouse the plungers therebetween, the outer member being rotatable-relative 'to-theinner'member and having a plurality of-eec'entric surfaces cooperating respectively with surfaces carried by the plungers whereby to move the plungers radially outward when the outer member is rotated in one direction relative to the inner member, and means for holding the members in said face to face contact, said inner and outer members respectively forming the inner and outer exposed portions of the wheel.

2. In an expansible wheel and an axle disposed centrally,therethrough, an inner disk-like hub member having integral therewith a peripheral flange portion projecting in an outboard direction therefrom, an outer hub member, means on the axle including a nut acting against the outer member for holding the members in face to face relation, a plurality of radially-extending and spoke-forming plungers carried by the inner member and respectively slidable in radial channels extending through and radially inward of said flange portion, means providing a plurality of inclined surfaces connected to the outer hub member and respectively cooperating with the plungers whereby to move the plungers radially outward when the outer member is rotated in one direction relative to the inner member, and means carried on the outer ends of the plungers for engaging and holding an annular member extending therearound.

3. An expansible wheel for engaging and holding an annular member, comprising an inner disk-like member having a plurality of spokeforming channels extending radially thereinto and open at their outer .ends, said member having integral therewith a peripheral flange portion and a hub portion both projecting in an outboard direction therefrom and through which flange portion said channels extend, a plurality of radially-extending and spoke-forming plungers in the channels, the walls of the channels inwardly of said flange portion engaging and supporting the plungers for more than 180 therearound, an outer disk-like member in face to face contact with the flange portion of the inner member and tion,- said outer-'-memberextending radially out- 'having'fintegraltherewitfr ahubfiiortion"'cooper plnratyofinclined surfaces; connectedto the i330 outer member and-respectively cooperating with the plungers whereby; to move the plungers radially outward when the' out er member is; rotated 'iii one direction-relative to the inner member; and nearis'for holding the-members in cooperating relation; j 4;" In an- "expansibl,ewheelffon engaging and holdingan annular member; arim comprising a ;-plu r,ality'- of' sections '0f" uniform thickness throughout and having'the adjacent ends thereof beveled t'o-dive'rg'e radially-inward-of'" thefwheel, cooperating sectionsbf' like uniform thickness an'd*e,ach havingan intermediate'portion' integrally connected'to' end portions thereof by 'cliiie'd portions therebetw'een, said cooperating sections being, adapted-t ngage between and bridgeacross'theeiidls" the-first-jnamed'sectiolns in h hx o uqn i cl n dren n engage saidb yeled ends an' id'endportions-overlap the, ends of'the first-named sections andhold tl' er'nfirmly therebeneath; aplurality of radially extending, spckeelements having their-outer ends attached to said sections' respectively, aninner hub fniember carrying said elements, and means including an outer hub member "and a plurality of cam surfaces cooperating with the element's for simultaneouslyjmoving all of said. elements-rag dially outward when the outer member is-rotated in 'onedire'ction" relative to the inner'memb'er:

5. In a wheel, a rim comprising a plurality of sections of uniform thickness throughout and having the adjacent ends thereof beveled to diverge radially inward of the wheel, cooperating sections of like uniform thickness and each having an intermediate portion integrally connected toend portions thereof by inclined portions therebetween, said cooperating sections being adapted to engage between and bridge across the ends of the first-named sections in which position the inclined portions engage said beveled ends and said end portions overlap the ends of the firstnamed sections and hold them firmly therebeneath, edge flanges on each cooperating section comprising oppositely disposed intermediate portions for engaging the beads of a tire and oppositely disposed and more widely spaced end portions for overlapping the edges of the first-named sections, a plurality of radially-extending spoke elements having their outer ends attached to said sections respectively, an inner hub member carrying said elements, and means including an outer hub member and a plurality of cam surfaces cooperating with the elements for simultaneously moving all of said elements radially outward when the outer member is rotated in one direction relative to the inner member.

6. In an expansible wheel for engaging and holding an annular member, a rim comprising a plurality of cooperating sections including oppositelydisposed, relatively long sections and oppositely-disposed and relatively shorter sections for engaging between the ends of the relatively long sections, the said shorter sections having beveled end portions adapted to be wedged between the ends of the longer sections and having extended end portions for overlapping the ends of the longer sections, a plurality of radiallyextending spoke elements having their outer ends attached to said sections respectively, an inner hub member carrying said elements, and means including an outer hub member and a plurality o1 cam surfaces cooperating with the elements for simultaneously moving all of said elements radially outward when the outer member is rotated in one direction relative to the inner member.

7. The combination defined in claim 6, comprising two oppositely-disposed and substantially semi-circular longer sections and two oppositelydisposed and shorter sections cooperating therewith and engageable between the ends thereof.

8. In a wheel, a rim comprising a plurality of cooperating sections including oppositely-disposed, relatively long sections and oppositelydisposed and relatively shorter sections for engagingbetween the ends of the relatively long sections, the said shorter sections having beveled end portions adapted to be wedged between the ends of the longer sections and having extended end portions for overlapping the ends of the longer sections and saidshorter sections having oppositely disposed edge flanges spaced to overlap the beads of a. tire and the edges of the relatively long sections, a plurality of radially-extending spoke elements having their outer ends attached to said sections respectively,'an inner hub member carrying said elements, and means including an outer hub member and a plurality of cam surfaces cooperating with the elements for simultaneously moving all of said elements radially outward when the outer member is rotated in one direction relative to the inner member.

9. An expansible wheel for engaging and holding an annular member, comprising an inner hub member having a portion thereof extending radially outward and an annular portion extending axially outward, an outer hub member having an annular portion extending axially inward and fitting over the second-named portion, a plurality of radially-extending plungers carried by the inner member and respectively slidable in radial channels in the first-named portion, eccentric surfaces formed on the periphery of the thirdnamed portion and engaging the inner ends of the plungers whereby rotation of the outer member in one direction relative to the inner member is-adapted to move the plungers outwardly, and means carried on the outer ends of the plungers for engaging said annular member. 10. An expansible wheel for engaging and holding anannular member, comprising an [axially inner member having a-hub portion and a radially outer plunger-holding portion, an axially outer member cooperating therewith, and having a hub portion in telescopic relation and axial alignment with the first-named hub portion, a plurality of radially-extending plungers carriedby the said outer portion of the inner member and -respectively slidable in radial channels therein, eccentric surfaces formed on the outer member and located between and engaging the inner ends of the plungers whereby rotation of the outer member in one direction relative to the inner memberis adapted to move the plungers outwardly, and means carried on the outer ends of the plungers for engaging said annular member. V

LESTER S. FEINBERG. 1 MARCUS W. FEINBERG.- 

